Karl Neumann
Karl Neumann is an Imperial Freeblade Knight, who commands the Knight Crusader Death Stalker.[1b]
History
He hails from an ocean Knight World, which is constantly threatened by storms and giant primordial sea creatures. The Death Stalker's name and heraldry comes from a squid-like creature there, which uses its serrated tentacles to harm and weaken prey. The creature then delivers a fatal blow, with a mouth that is normally hidden within its body. Neumann follows the same attack pattern, by first using the Death Stalker's Avenger Gatling Cannon to scatter his enemies and he then destroys them with the Knight Crusader's Rapid-Fire Battle Cannon.[1b] However he received his training under his mentor, the ever-silent Oath Guardian, when they both still served their Knight House. The Guardian had always trained the Death Stalker's pilots, but this ended after their Homeworld was invaded by five Chaos Knights. Though the heretics were defeated by Neumann's mentor, the Knight World paid a heavy price for that victory. The Oath Guardian chose to become a Freeblade Knight afterwards and he then joined the Indomitus Crusade.[1c] Neumann decided to follow in his mentor's footsteps[1b] and they both now serve in the same Indomitus Crusade Fleet.[1b][1c] It has been rumored that the Oath Guardian left his Knight House, in order to hunt down a Chaos Knight. However it is not known if this is true, as the Oath Guardian never speaks.[1c] When he is asked of this, though, Neumann only replies that he is there to follow his mentor and to fulfill an oath.[1b]
The two have since aided their fleet[1b][1c] in reclaiming many of the Imperium's lost worlds. However, the Freeblades' service was nearly ended when the fleet was ambushed by the Prophet's Black Legion warband. This left its Space Marine Commander with no choice but to order the fleet's warships to escape into the Warp. Despite doing so, however, the Sorcerer Lord tracked them within the Warp and launched an attack on the Commander's Battle Barge flagship. But as his forces fought the Imperials, the Prophet began secretly summoning Daemons within the Battle Barge. They materialised throughout the flagship and once he was done, the Sorcerer Lord ordered his warband to withdraw. Shortly afterwards, the Daemons caused catastrophic damage to the Battle Barge and the Commander enacted an emergency exit from the Warp.[1a]
While the Crusade Fleet survived doing so, it was left scattered within a sector of the Imperium Nihilus.[1a] The Commander then began regrouping his forces and as he did so,[1d] he learned that that very same sector was now being invaded by the Prophet. The Commander then led the two Freeblades and the rest of his forces against the Sorcerer Lord's warband, in order to save the sector's worlds.[1e] Thanks to the Commander's leadership, the fleet was able to foil[1g] the Prophet's plot to pull the sector into the Warp,[1f] though the Sorcerer Lord escaped before the Imperials could kill him.[1g] The vengeful Prophet then sought to free the imprisoned Daemon Prince Halphas, so that he could destroy the fleet and its Commander.[1h] However, despite succeeding in doing so, the Imperials defeated the Daemon Prince. Afterwards, the Commander confronted the Prophet and once again defeated the Sorcerer Lord.[1i]
Sources
- 1: Warhammer 40,000: Lost Crusade - Campaign
